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Marriage between Coptic and Non Christian

ZoxsasiZoxsasi
in Faith Issues
Hi,

Why does the church insist that to get married, both persons need to be baptised and believers? Why can't one person be a believer?? Why can't that work?

So - baptism is the key into all the other sacraments. Great - so the guy is baptised, and now he wants to get married. Why can't the priest bless his marriage??

Comments

  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    Yes, the baptism is the key to all the sacraments, but it's not the only one. Question should be, why does the Church require both couples to be Christians in the Orthodox Church (OO, or EO  separately) to then be married?

    I think that question's answer is easy. simply because marriage in itself is a sacrament that can only be officiated within the realm of the others. Also, to anyone that is NOT a christian, the understanding and the definition of marriage can be totally different. Then how can you establish a marriage if one of the parties doesn't really agree, understand, or testify to it?!
  • ZoxsasiZoxsasi
    edited January 2020
    I like that answer Mina.
    You are saying that the definition of marriage is not the same for both parties. 
    But so what? Even if it is not the same definition, one of them wants to have God's blessing, and the other doesn't know God. What's the problem??
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    edited January 2020
    That's only acceptable if both are already married and not Christian. If one wants to then become a Christian, that's kind of allowed on the hope that his or her righteousness as a Christian would be an example for the other spouse to became one too. St. Paul says this very clearly and St John Chrysostom doubles down on that. Of course, that is not easily done these days due to social structure of family in our world today...which is ok in my opinion.

    To answer your last question, the problem would be that you cannot just worship God outside the marriage and ignore Him otherwise.. we must worship God with all our hearts, our minds, and our souls. Anything less would just be meaningless. And this is to be applied to couples who even are Christians. If the marriage does not glorify God and if it will hinder rather than help, then the lack of it or another marriage would be better. It cannot just be about sex, companionship, money, or social acceptance...it's about something so mysterious that is likened to the Son's relationship to the Church whom He saved with His blood.
  • mabsootamabsoota
    why can't God bless me when i want to rob a bank, or gossip against my friend in church?
    why can't i just invent my own religion and pretend God has blessed it?
    i would be the patriarch and make zoxsasi a bishop...
    ;-)
  • Marwan
    This is the means of the church protecting the future children instead of growing up in confusion over who their creator and what their religion is. Furthermore, love to someone can sometimes be blind, after the fuzzy lovey dovey feeling sets aside in an interreligious couple, the problems makes itself manifest
  • ZoxsasiZoxsasi
    robbing a bank is wrong. marrying a non believer is not a crime . is it???
  • mabsootamabsoota
    by whose standards?
  • mabsootamabsoota
    and i offered you to be a bishop as well!
    u r not even a good heretic!!
    :-p
  • ZoxsasiZoxsasi
    I am against anyone converting to Orthodoxy for the sake of marriage. I hate that. People should be baptised based on faith and not accept something they do not believe in for the sake of marriage. Thank Goodness our Church still has some sense here. Having said that, I resent very much the Coptic Church re-baptising catholics into Coptic Orthodoxy. That is a very hurtful gesture. But that's another story.

    In terms of marrying a non believer - I really do not understand why someone would want to marry a non believer IN A CHURCH. that makes no sense. If you love God so much, why not marry someone who shares the same love towards God as yourself?

    It does indeed look stupid to take a non Coptic woman and marry her in a Coptic Church. That is absurd. 

    But although it makes no sense to me, why is it wrong??

    I disagree with it - indeed, but the answers given do not really make any sense. I just disagree with it because, as I mentioned, if you love God so much to the point of wanting to get married and have God's blessing - why not marry a Christian woman?? 

    During the sacrament of marriage, as far as I know, God joins these two persons. They mystically become ONE. How can God join someone who is dead to Him with someone who is joined to Him through baptism? That's odd. Perhaps this is the right answer, but I'm no theologian to actually know if that's true or not. I'm still waiting for sensible and credible answers.
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    Why are you confusing yourself so much?! You answered your own question many times over what we said. Then just accept it
  • ZoxsasiZoxsasi
    Im not sure if what I said was actually true. I was just guessing.
  • ShareTheLordShareTheLord
    edited February 2020
    You are correct Zoxasi. Marriage in the end is not a blessing, not a contract, not an agreement. It is a mystical union, a covenant made between God and man. The man must understand this covenant. Secular marriages are more of a contractual agreement. No everlasting covenant established. Someone who doesn’t understand the covenant as such will surely not be on the same page/in union with at least 1 party involved, God. Isn’t that the most crucial and important aspect?
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